In 2009, Anurag Kashyap made Gulaal, a film about a fictitious Rajput secessionist movement. The leader of the movement had a long list of historic betrayals against the Rajputs, the last of these being the loss of privy purses in 1971.

The Rajputs are a demographic minority in Rajasthan, a state named after them. The post-Independence electoral politics has seen the rise of traditionally powerful groups like Brahmins and Jains, as well as that of backward groups, like Jats, Gujars, Malis and Meghwals. It has also seen the decline of Rajputs, the erstwhile rulers of Rajasthan, as a politically powerful group. In fact, the only Rajput to occupy the position of Chief Minister in Rajasthan was Bhairon Singh Shekhawat (1977-’80, ‘90-’92 and ‘93-’98). With declining political and social clout, the Rajputs have increasingly turned to the hospitality sector, turning their havelis and forts into heritage hotels, selling what they take pride in – their heritage. It is not unusual to come across Rajput guides around various forts in Rajasthan, sporting ear studs and jodhpurs, opening vistas into their past for foreign tourists.

The controversy and violence around the filming of Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Padmavati is a reflection of the wide gap between Rajput history and Rajput memory and the anxiety it creates within the community.

Constructed identity

The Rajputs have often portrayed themselves as the last resistance against Muslim rule, both Turks and Mughals. They claim to embody the spirit of sacrifice necessary to mount resistances even at the cost of their lives. This spirit is claimed to have also resided in Rajput women who are said to have committed sati and jauhar when faced with the prospect of loss of honour at the hands of Muslims. These beliefs formed a crucial part of the idea of being Rajput, and have often been bolstered by historical writing and popular films and literature. Even the Amar Chitra Katha series featured Rajputs as a brave and valiant people.

Symbols of this resistance are littered all over the state, in the form of statues of Rajputs, often Maharana Pratap, on horseback. The idea of pride in Rajput heroism, in fact, became the unifying factor in a state that otherwise included diverse caste groups, regions, dialects and religions. The state of Rajasthan fashions itself as dharati dhoran ri – the land of shifting sand dunes, which, does not merely refer to the Thar desert, but alludes to the idea of a land that breeds valour and sacrifice in adversarial conditions.

However, while Rajput history frames itself around resistance, it is also framed by silences. While eulogistic genealogies of Rajputs pin their origins to the sun, moon and fire, a critical gaze into Rajasthani sources present them as itinerant adventurers, cattle herders or locally powerful groups who gradually rose to aristocracy. It is not before the 15th century that Rajputs began to view themselves as an endogamous caste group, that is, not marrying outside the group.

Despite this, the ranks of Rajputhood remained open adventurers long afterwards, with each new group on the rise, from the Marathas to the Sikhs, claiming some connection to the Rajputs. Marrying within the community, played a very important role in the framing of the Rajput as an elite caste group, with wives being sought only from within.

Image: The Burning of the Rajput women, during the siege of Chitor

Uncomfortable memories

However, a thorn in the side of Rajput history is the memory of daughters given in marriage to Muslims, including Turks, rulers of Gujarat and Malwa, Sher Shah Suri and his generals, and later Mughals. In medieval polity there was nothing unusual about forming marital alliances to seal political ones. What is interesting about Rajput marital alliances with Mughals is that these helped in constituting both Mughal and Rajputs as elite social groups. Once Rajput daughters entered the Mughal household as wives, no more prominent alliances with Muslim groups were made. Apart from a few marriages with Pahari Rajput groups, the Hindu wives of Mughal emperors and princes were from prominent Rajput clans of the present day Rajasthan, 27 in all, from the reign of Akbar to Farrukhsiyar, that is from the mid-16th to the early 18th century.

On the other hand, Rajputs too rose to prominence in the Mughal empire as uncles and cousins of Mughal emperors. The Rajput chief at the Mughal court became the ideal representation of the Mughal empire, often defending the empire and the emperor at distant outposts, sometimes even against Mughal princes.

The memory of these marriages continues to rankle uncomfortably in the Rajput collective psyche as it gets represented as Hindu capitulation to a Muslim empire. In the popular culture, the idea that these alliances were forced upon vanquished Rajputs, who resisted these, has gained currency. By the early 19th century, as James Tod wrote in his Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, the idea of resistance or capitulation rested squarely on whether a house had given a daughter to Mughals. The Hadas clan of Bundi state even produced for Tod a treaty of surrender of the Ranthambore fort between Akbar and Rao Surjan Hada, dating back to the mid-16th century, in which not giving daughters to Mughals featured as a condition. It has even been claimed that the Royal house of Bikaner attempted to pay historians to find evidence that would suggest that the Bikaner House did not marry their daughters to the Mughals.

The ideal Rajput woman

It is in this context that the idea of Padmini, the ideal Rajput woman, who prefers death to violation at the hands of a Muslim becomes important to Rajput memory. Ramya Sreenivasan’s book, The Many Lives of a Rajput Queen: Heroic Pasts in India, c.1500-1900, on the multiple Padmini narratives demonstrates how a poetic text composed in Jaunpur, two centuries after the siege of Chittor by Alauddin Khilji, continued to circulate throughout India. Sreenivsan argues that through translations into Indian languages like Hindi, Urdu and Bengali, as well as in English, traditions like Padmavat were selectively appropriated to formulate communal as well as national identities.

However, the idea that Padmini was only a fictitious character, or a sufic ideal, is unimportant to the Rajput imagination. To Rajputs, she is as real as the famed Rajput valour. As histories of losses against Turks, Mughals, Marathas, Pindaris, the British (whom the Rajputs did not even fight), and now, finally, democracy, accumulate, it is the memory of resistance and valour, where women resisted overtures of Muslim men, that sustains the idea of being Rajput. The loss of Padmini is too big a loss for Rajput memory.

Tanuja Kothiyal teaches history at Ambedkar University Delhi and is the author of Nomadic Narratives: A History of Mobility and Identity in the Great Indian Desert.

Why do our clothes fade, tear and lose their sheen?

From purchase to the back of the wardrobe – the life-cycle of a piece of clothing.

It’s an oft repeated story - shiny new dresses and smart blazers are bought with much enthusiasm, only to end up at the back of the wardrobe, frayed, faded or misshapen. From the moment of purchase, clothes are subject to wear and tear caused by nature, manmade chemicals and....human mishandling.

Just the act of wearing clothes is enough for gradual erosion. Some bodily functions aren’t too kind on certain fabrics. Sweat - made of trace amounts of minerals, lactic acid and urea - may seem harmless. But when combined with bacteria, it can weaken and discolour clothes over time. And if you think this is something you can remedy with an antiperspirant, you’ll just make matters worse. The chemical cocktail in deodorants and antiperspirants leads to those stubborn yellowish stains that don’t yield to multiple wash cycles or scrubbing sessions. Linen, rayon, cotton and synthetic blends are especially vulnerable.

Add to that, sun exposure. Though a reliable dryer and disinfectant, the UV radiation from the sun causes clothes to fade. You needn’t even dry your clothes out in the sun; walking outside on a sunny day is enough for your clothes to gradually fade.

And then there’s what we do to our clothes when we’re not wearing them - ignoring labels, forgetting to segregate while washing and maintaining improper storage habits. You think you know how to hang a sweater? Not if you hang it just like all your shirts - gravity stretches out the neck and shoulders of heavier clothing. Shielding your clothes by leaving them in the dry-cleaning bag? You just trapped them in humidity and foul odour. Fabrics need to breathe, so they shouldn’t be languishing in plastic bags. Tossing workout clothes into the laundry bag first thing after returning home? It’s why the odour stays. Excessive moisture boosts fungal growth, so these clothes need to be hung out to dry first. Every day, a whole host of such actions unleash immense wear and tear on our clothes.

Clothes encounter maximum resistance in the wash; it’s the biggest factor behind premature degeneration of clothes. Wash sessions that don’t adhere to the rules of fabric care have a harsh impact on clothes. For starters, extra effort often backfires. Using more detergent than is indicated may seem reasonable for a tub full of soiled clothes, but it actually adds to their erosion. Aggressive scrubbing, too, is counterproductive as it worsens stains. And most clothes can be worn a few times before being put in the wash, unless of course they are sweat-soaked gym clothes. Daily washing of regulars exposes them to too much friction, hastening their wear and tear.

Different fabrics react differently to these abrasive agents. Natural fabrics include cotton, wool, silk and linen and each has distinct care requirements. Synthetic fabrics, on the other hand, are sensitive to heat and oil.

A little bit of conscious effort will help your clothes survive for longer. You can start by lessening the forces acting on the clothes while washing. Sort your clothes by fabric instead of colour while loading them in the washing machine. This helps save lighter fabrics from the friction of rubbing against heavier ones. It’s best to wash denim materials separately as they are quite coarse. For the same reason, clothes should be unzipped and buttoned before being tossed in the washing machine. Turning jeans, printed clothes and shirts inside out while loading will also ensure any abrasion is limited to the inner layers only. Avoid overloading the washing machine to reduce friction between the clothes.

Your choice of washing tools also makes a huge difference. Invest in a gentler detergent, devoid of excessive dyes, perfumes and other unnecessary chemicals. If you prefer a washing machine for its convenience, you needn’t worry anymore. The latest washing machines are far gentler, and even equipped to handle delicate clothing with minimal wear and tear.

Bosch’s range of top loading washing machines, for example, care for your everyday wear to ensure they look as good as new over time. The machines make use of the PowerWave Wash System to retain the quality of the fabrics. The WaveDrum movement adds a top-down motion to the regular round action for a thorough cleaning, while the dynamic water flow reduces the friction and pulling forces on the clothes.

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The intelligent system also creates water displacement for better movement of clothes, resulting in lesser tangles and clothes that retain their shape for longer. These wash cycles are also noiseless and more energy efficient as the motor is directly attached to the tub to reduce overall friction. Bosch’s top loading washing machines take the guesswork away from setting of controls by automatically choosing the right wash program based on the load. All that’s needed is a one-touch start for a wash cycle that’s free of human errors. Read more about the range here. You can also follow Bosch on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

This article was produced by the Scroll marketing team on behalf of Bosch and not by the Scroll editorial team.